Andrew Ference (@FerKnuckle) tweeted this picture of himself at 10:15 a.m, officially announcing he was a member of the Edmonton Oilers. Safe to say he grew up an Oilers fan, and easily the best way to announce you've signed with a team.

The Oilers have also signed centre Boyd Gordon and goalie Jason LaBarbera.

Ference signed a four-year deal at $3.25 mill/season. That is one year longer than most expected, but that is usually the case in free agency. Teams either overpay in price or in term.

Gordon signed a three year deal, terms **edit** just announced at $3 million/season. Gordon is very good in the faceoff dot. He isn't flashy, but he's solid defensively and a huge upgrade over Eric Belanger.

LaBarbera got a one-year deal and he trains with Dubnyk, so they will get along well and push one another. LaBarbera is 33 years of age and his last four seasons he's had SV% of .923, .912, .909 and .928 in Phoenix. He's mainly a backup.

None of these are huge signings, but they are upgrades over the guys they replaced.

You need to improve every element of your team if you hope to become successful, so I'd say so far MacTavish has done a decent job. He still needs to find another centre, some size in this top-six and likely a big, strong physical D-man.

I received this text from an eastern conference player when I asked about Ference, "He will help them. He isn't naturally skilled, but has tremendous work ethic. Harder to play against than people think."

I suspect the Oilers next big moves will come via trade. With Ottawa losing Alfredsson to Detroit, they have a void at RW. The Ales Hemsky rumours to Ottawa will heat up. Also, Phoenix needs a RW with skill.

UPDATE...

The Oilers just signed free agent winger Jesse Joensuu. He is 6'4 and 225 pounds. He's played 67 NHL games with the Islanders and was the 60th pick in 2006 draft.

(3:00) The Oilers have signed Ryan Hamilton and Wil Acton to two-year contracts. Both played for Eakins with the Toronto Marlies last year. Team stats are here...

Andrew Ference will become the 10th player (I think) to play for the Oilers after suiting up for the Flames.

Also Lamb only played one game for Calgary before playing in Detroit for 22 and then in Edmonton, but he still did play for both teams.

**UPDATE...Michel Petit played 18 for the Oilers after playing for Flames. Jim Dowd played 75 games with Oilers after being in Calgary. Brian Glynn played 105 games.*** Keep them coming.

QUICK THOUGHTS ON OTHER DEALS...

Columbus gives Horton a 7-year deal, but he won't be able to play until December. Wow.

Typical Flames. They could have picked up Kris Russell on waivers, elected not to, and then traded a 5th round pick to St.Louis today to get him. That is a head scratcher.

Haven't heard much from the Kings or Blues. Both are interested in Iginla.

Doesn't sound like Ryan Jones will be coming back to Edmonton.

Shawn Horcoff will be on my show today at 4 p.m. to talk about his time in Edmonton.

One of Canada's most versatile sports personalities. Jason hosts The Jason Gregor Show, weekdays from 2 to 6 p.m., on TSN 1260, and he writes a column every Monday in the Edmonton Journal. You can follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/JasonGregor

The Oilers have agreed to terms with centre Will Acton on a two-year deal.

Acton, a native of Stouffville, Ontario, is 25 years old and is listed at 6'2" 190 lbs. Last season, in 67 games with the Torto Marlies of the AHL he had eight goals and 11 assists for 19 points and 60 penalty minutes.

I would be SHOCKED if Couturier ended up traded anywhere. He's a value contract on a cap team. They need to shed salary, so I would suspect he's close to untouchable at his price point for this season. I could see him getting traded at the deadline... maybe... not now.

Maybe not Philly, but the Oilers centre depth is Gordon and Gagner.

If the Oilers go into the season without a legit #2 centre the Oilers will be a lottery team by the middle of December.

Would like to see the Oil pick up Frazer McLaren and Ryan Hamilton from the Toronto system, both big boys on the upswing in their careers, familiar with Eakins and could potentially fit a need on the team. McLaren would give us a legit 4th line winger with bungalows with bad intentions (could alternate with Brown in and out of the lineup), Hamilton is a big boy putting up some solid numbers in the minors and not looking out of place in the big leagues.

Both could be had for around a million per year, so not a lot of risk involved.

If the Oilers go into the season without a legit #2 centre the Oilers will be a lottery team by the middle of December.

Well obviously the oilers need more centre depth (hence the overpay to land Gordon). Couturier would be a great fit, but the Flyers aren't trading him to the Oilers without a significant overpay (like Yak or Eberle). I wouldn't make that trade.

Well obviously the oilers need more centre depth (hence the overpay to land Gordon). Couturier would be a great fit, but the Flyers aren't trading him to the Oilers without a significant overpay (like Yak or Eberle). I wouldn't make that trade.

Smart and calculated so far by Mactavish:
-Labarbera makes sense because of the price and his relationship with Dubnyk. I prefer him to Emery because he doesn't bring the expectation of being a starter but he can still push Dubnyk
-Ference is a tremendous fit. The term is a bit long but the price is reasonable and his contributions to the team will go far beyond the ice. The Oilers acquired a true winner.
-We overpaid for Gordon but we needed at least one centre. The contract is far from a boat anchor and he brings a lot of what we need in the bottom six. Gordon is better than Belanger and likely a bit behind Horcoff when you consider Horcoff is the superior offensive player. Still, Gordon is much cheaper so it was a good move. It would be ideal if we can trade for a third line centre and bump Gordon down the 4th line but we at least need another bottom six centre.
-Joenssu is big, young and Finnish so he can fill Teemu's spot for now.

All in all, a solid start for Mactavish. Still lots of work to do if this team is compete for a playoff spot but perhaps the best news of the day is that we didn't do anything stupid that will hurt us down the line. Like paying over 5 million dollars in cap hit over 7 years to a player who has never scored 50 points before or signing an injury prone player to a 7 year deal.

There's no depth yet. Horcoff and Belanger gone and Gordon and Acton in. Is our "depth at centre" any better today than it was yesterday? I don't think it is. Not yet anyway.

IMO there will be trades to bring in a 2C and a top 4 D. After everything dies down and teams trade to fill needs.There are some teams pushing the cap after today.Nothing wrong with having some depth at C on the farm.

IMO there will be trades to bring in a 2C and a top 4 D. After everything dies down and teams trade to fill needs.There are some teams pushing the cap after today.Nothing wrong with having some depth at C on the farm.

Well obviously the oilers need more centre depth (hence the overpay to land Gordon). Couturier would be a great fit, but the Flyers aren't trading him to the Oilers without a significant overpay (like Yak or Eberle). I wouldn't make that trade.

Gagner is a legitimate #2 Centre.

Yes Gagner is a second line center, having said that the Oilers won't have one for three months.

Gagner will be paying first line centre while RNH is injuried.

At the end of the day Gordon will be comparable to the UFA's.

If the Oilers trade for Colburn and take Meszaros back for the rumour of Smid and Paajarvi then ya, you can include Couturier in that deal.

I am still buisy watching the free agency shows and now...Wow Bobby Ryan goes in trade to Ottawa...

I am very pleased so far with MacT by picking up Ference, Gordon, Joensuu, LaBarbera and now depth with Will Acton (good size 4th line centre). ference and Gordon are excellent leading type role players for defence and 3rd line centre..(Very good here)

Joensuu is a big size decent type winger, and Acton must be related to keith and he id play for eakins on the Marlies so he is known good to them so i have trust...

LaBarbera has decent save percentage averages/GAA and he is okay for back-up but I was hoping for Khudobin or Emery.

No Top LW yet nor another big tough winger for the 3rd to 4th lines and still I would like to see Lapiere to get over to the Oilers, but overall..I say... great Way to start off MacT and thanks fop no such huge to wrong overpays thus far.

Not at this point in his career.Now if Mac-T can trade for the next Iginla that would be great.Not sure who the next Iginla will be but then again I don't have a million dollar scouting staff.The trick to winning is finding the next one not over paying for the last one.See Clarkson Toronto for 7 years.Now that's a anchor.

I am still buisy watching the free agency shows and now...Wow Bobby Ryan goes in trade to Ottawa...

I am very pleased so far with MacT by picking up Ference, Gordon, Joensuu, LaBarbera and now depth with Will Acton (good size 4th line centre). ference and Gordon are excellent leading type role players for defence and 3rd line centre..(Very good here)

Joensuu is a big size decent type winger, and Acton must be related to keith and he id play for eakins on the Marlies so he is known good to them so i have trust...

LaBarbera has decent save percentage averages/GAA and he is okay for back-up but I was hoping for Khudobin or Emery.

No Top LW yet nor another big tough winger for the 3rd to 4th lines and still I would like to see Lapiere to get over to the Oilers, but overall..I say... great Way to start off MacT and thanks fop no such huge to wrong overpays thus far.

I'm not sure the Oilers have upgraded at all?

Joensuu 4th line (maybe) = Hartikainen

Gordon = Horcoff with almost same across the board stats, in fact Horcoff maybe better!

LaBarbera might be the only upgrade right now.

Ference is a boat anchor contract and is clearly a 5-6 defensmen or a little grittier version of Schultz Sr, his advanced stats are not good.

Having said that, personally I like the Gordon, Ference and LaBarbera signings, but to say the skill level has gone up is misleading.

The Oilers need to make significant trades or this upcoming season is a wash.

At least the Oilers have one compliance buyout left for Boyd Gordon next summer.

3 mill per for a guy who's best seasons were 29 and 23 pts? WTF!

Great signing on Ference...

Ference>Smid, by an Oilcountry mile. Good to land a capable top four blueliner from a more than competitive team. Welcome home Andrew.

read this. This Boyd Gordon Signing makes a little more sense in this light. http://blogs.edmontonjournal.com/2013/06/07/if-oilers-are-looking-to-replace-shawn-horcoff-potential-ufa-boyd-gordon-might-be-a-good-fit/